Tab Launchpad is similar to Keyboard Launchpad in that it launches other programs. It’s a program that launches other programs. Thus, it allows for all of your most used programs to be cleaned off your desktop and into one of the platforms of Tab Launchpad.

My favourite aspect of the program was the different tabs – they can be arranged so that different programs are fitted under different categories. For example, my most used programs are fitted in Herbert’s Applications. If I was a graphic designer, I could put programs such as Paint.NET or Photoshop in a tab called Graphics. A gamer would put his games in a Games tab. The tabs can be created as you wish, and even icon-spacing can be altered.

What makes it interesting is how applications are added into tabs – I couldn’t for the life of me figure it out until I explored the program files. Turns out that you drag and drop short-cuts of applications or locations into the tab’s folder to make the corresponding shortcut or location appear in the tab. For example, in our scenario, my tab is named Herbert’s Applications. I dragged in the Mozilla Firefox shortcut to the folder, and – behold, the shortcut appeared on my launchpad.

Although this technology is still relatively new to me, it looks kind of outdated – the whole icon and colour scheme just doesn’t seem up to date.

In my opinion, I would have to consider Tab Launchpad kind of redundant – the word “obsolete” did come to mind, but that would be a stretch. Not because of its looks, but rather, because of the evolution of launching technology. Mac users have Quicksilver, and us Windows users have Launchy – a software that launches software through the keyboard (not functions though, so it’s different from Keyboard Launchpad). In my opinion, Launchy makes things a lot faster – in fact, I found myself launching Tab Launchpad with Launchy. Productive-wise, Launchy is a lot faster, but if you prefer to use a mouse or tabs, then try Tab Launchpad.

Unfortunately, Tab Launchpad isn’t available for download on its own – it comes with Object Desktop; I feel that even though it does bring something unique to the table, it’s in urgent need of a makeover.